Farmer group dynamics, leadership and soil - water management training

11 - 13 April, 2017

Babati, Tanzania

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Participants

1. Never Mwambela – WorldVeg-Arusha
2. Philipo Joseph – WorldVeg-Arusha
3. Aron Michael – WorldVeg-Arusha
4. Inviolate Dominick – WorldVeg-Arusha
5. Gilbart Mushi – WorldVeg-Arusha

Objective/ Purpose
Participate and coordinate training on farmer group dynamics, leadership, farm record keeping and soil and water management practices in five villages under Africa RISING Project in Babati District and make follow up of screen house experiments, observe status for improvement, monitor diseases by spraying antifungal (Super Grino) to control diseases and record emerging pests. Specific objectives are:

1. To use humour to identify less helpful traits in a farmers’ group (Tuckman’s group stages)
2. To promote traits that can strengthen trust, commitment and cooperation in a group
3. To identify and avoid pitfalls that leads to poor leadership
4. To create awareness about soil and water management technologies and practical ways of implementing them on farms

Agenda

TIME	TOPIC/ACTIVITY	VILLAGE/VENUE						FACILITATOR(S)
08:30 - 08:45	Arrival and Registration	MATUFA	BERMI		GALAPO	SHAURIMOYO		Village extension agents /Aron
		10/04/17	11/04/17		12/04/17	13/04/17
08:45 – 09:00	Pre-course evaluation	MATUFA	BERMI		GALAPO	SHAURIMOYO		Philipo/Aron
09:00 - 10:30	Group dynamics Challenges specific to farmer based organizations and solutions Factors that influence organizational performance A need for Collective Action	MATUFA	BERMI/SELOTO		GALAPO	SHAURIMOYO		Mrs Remoy Rose Palangyo
10:31 -11:00	TEA							Extension Agent
11:01 - 13:00	Group Leadership & Management	MATUFA	BERMI	GALAPO			SHAURIMOYO	Ms Remoy
13:01 – 13.45	LUNCH							Extension Agent
13:45 - 14:45	Soil & water management technologies	MATUFA	BERMI		GALAPO		SHAURIMOYO	Fred Kizito and DAICO (Mr. Mbise)
14:45 – 15.00	Farm record keeping	MATUFA	BERMI		GALAPO		SHAURIMOYO	Philipo Joseph
15:01 - 15:30	Course evaluation & Closing	MATUFA	BERMI		GALAPO		SHAURIMOYO	Philipo/Inviolate R4D Chairperson

Notes

Important results/information gathered during the trip
a) Training
A one pager collective action survey was administered to 120 farmers who are group members to assess members trust, commitment and participation in their respective groups with the aim to use the information to strengthen group governance and plan for future actions. The data is being entered and cleaned for analysis.

• Total of 143 participants attended the training out of which 114 were farmer group members from five Africa RISING project sites (Bermi, Seloto, Galapo, Matufa and Shaurimoyo villages), 19 R4D Platform (JUMBA) committee members from Babati District, Bashnet and Galapo wards, 4 Ward and village extension agents, 4 WorldVeg-ESA research assistants, 1- IITA –Arusha(AR Babati District coordinator) and IITA- Master student.
• The topic covered includes Inherent features of a cohesive group: Transparency, accountability, defined responsibilities, well defined work plan, market led production/decision making, leadership integrity, delegation of power and readiness to learn from others and to accept criticism and importance of farm records and how to collect data basing ongoing on farm experiment trials Characteristics of poor group leadership and how to address them , Need for market led vegetable production, adherence to client needs (volume, quality, timeliness, packaging, labeling) smooth communication with clients; linkage with other producers with similar commodities and commodity diversification and soil and moisture conservation
• Basing on discussion and experience sharing with training participants identified a number of challenges that they face when working in groups, which would need to be addressed these includes; poor quality of farm products include vegetables, price fluctuations, poor marketing system, inadequate/lack of market information, lack of awareness consumers locations/ preferences, inadequate skills on postharvest handling practices, lack of storage facilities for storage of horticultural products, no reliable markets for vegetable products. Likewise, farmers have a limited capacity to reach out, to implement group activities based on their priorities
• Farmers group members, R4D platform leaders in collaboration with extension agents who participated in the training agreed to organise meetings with Farmer groups to discuss and address the gapes basing on the skills gained from the training such as market linkages and net-working, with emphasis on collective actions and train their fellow farmers on how to develop farm business plans especially on vegetable market chain
• Time allocations (One day per group) were difficult to maintain strictly because of the active and enthusiastic discussions, group work and practical demonstrations, overall however, the various topics were fairly well covered in the available time frame.
• Some insights from the training:
• Lack of stable markets featured prominently and yet there is high potential for vegetable markets - e.g. Dodoma as an emerging capital city.
• Judging from the facilitator’s practical experience, small scale farmers lack business oriented mindset, they are not conscious on the importance of quality, packaging and labeling; are not sufficiently aggressive in markets research
• Given the fact that small scale farmers have limited capital, there is a strong justification for forming and consolidating farmers groups; mentor them to fulfill specific market needs and out compete middlemen; build their capacity in value addition and farming as business
• Partners participated in the workshop IITA, Tanzania Group Networking (MVIWATA), CIAT nominated facilitator and JUMBA leaders appreciated and congratulate the World-Veg team for organized the training in consultation with Natural Resource Management and JUMBA. ‘’It was a classic example on how integration of themes can efficiently reach out to diverse categories of beneficiaries at reasonable costs. Participants gained knowledge on group management, soil and water management and effective marketing strategies’’ says IITA coordinator for Africa RISING project in Babati District.
• Involvement of MVIWATA under the JUMBA umbrella shaded light on areas for further collaboration. The NGO is specialized in farmer groups’ mobilization. This is indeed a key partner as we form innovation platforms at ground level

b) Follow up field visits

• Irrigation pipes installed in 8 replication in 2 Agro-ecological experiment trials in Galapo and Seloto villages, soon will be in use
• Trials are in good situation in both biopesticides and screen house experiments
• Hygrometers were installed in all experimental screen houses in Gallapo, Seloto, Bermi, Matufa and Shaurimoyo.

Suggestions for follow-up

• Farmers to go back to their respective villages have discussions with their members and decide on how they intend to strengthen their groups at village and ward level. This will be an opportunity for R4D Platform (JUMBA) and MVIWATA representative facilitate farmer group strengthen at village and Ward level.
• Farmer’s group leaders to give feedback to Village extension agent and ward R4D committee (JUMBA) chairperson on the outcome of their meetings and way
• Trained farmer and extension staff to agree and decided dates to train their fellow farmers at village level.
• AR Vegetable theme, CIAT, Babati JUMBA committee Chairperson/Secretary and IITA research facilitators in Babati in collaboration with Babati district MVIWATA representative organize a joint meeting to discuss and develop Work Plan for Follow-Up and provide extension support to farmer groups who received the training.
• Field follow up visits planned to:

cccccccc- Check any emerging disease/pathogen 2 weeks after spay
cccccccc- Manage some emerging pest particularly crickets, Lyriomyza sativa, beetles
cccccccc- Stalking of plants and fertilizer application

List of people met during the trip

• Rose Palangyo - Babati District Horticulture officer
• Mr. Mbise - District Land use officer
• Groups of farmers - Matufa, Galapo, Bermi, Seloto, Shaurimoyo villages and representative of JUMBA members from outside Africa Rising project villages
• Festo Ngulu IITA- Africa RISING Coordinator forBabati District
• Caidlii - IITA Masters student
• Donald Laizer - MVIWATA Representative –Babati District
• Valerian Peter - JUMBA chairperson, Dareda Ward